Awaken by Yes

Is this their finest moment?

Released in 1977, during the summer of punk, only Yes had the chops, the chutzpah, to put a 15 minute epic masterpiece on the album, Going for the One. And its name was Awaken.

Yet that summer was long gone, and punk was dead and buried, by time I first heard this track. My first listen was on the Friday night Tommy Vance Rock Show. Fortunately I taped it and played it to death in my car until the tape stretched and warped. Then I bought the whole album.

Awaken is the album’s undisputed, jewel in the crown. It closes side two, following Wonderous Stories. It was their last epic of the seventies. Not until Keys to Ascension 2 and tracks such as Mind Drive was there a return to such grand, sweeping compositions.

The album was their eighth studio album, following the complex and brilliant, Relayer, that featured their new keyboardist, Patrick Moraz. Despite his virtuoso performance, it was his only outing. By the time the recording for Going for the One was taking place, he was gone, to be replaced by the return of Rick Wakeman, and some would argue, also the return of the classic lineup (depending if you consider Bill Bruford or Alan White as the band’s definitive drummer).